Where was I ?

Hello guys, so here I am ! After a very long hiatus, (of almost 14 months). Man, that’s a very long break! But hang on, (let me try to recollect), where was I all this while ?

If I was out on a vacation for more than a year, then gosh, I am such a sick professional !

If I had taken a “long break”, wait… when did I ever prove to be in such an awesome & “breakworthy” form ?

So the question still looms, “where was I ?“

A few “Geek” friends of mine would say I was toying with a workstation on the outskirts of Bangalore! A few “Nerd” friends of mine would say that I was busy with the “project” ! Or a few “morons” would make-up something like “he was busy with books”! Eek !!! If you belong to any of these 3 categories, then give me a hi-5 ! (Coz, you belong to the categories i know !) But if you are the non-geeky, non-moronic, normal kind of person, then you’d have probably guessed that I was “lost in my own world” ! ( As a matter of fact, you are actually starting a new category, ”Dumbo” ! How can I get “lost” in “my own world”? )

For the record, all are wrong ! But speaking candidly, all are right ! (confused? So am I !)

Of late, I have been very busy in America. Yup, I’ve been constantly touring, barring the Sundays (weekend prices are high! ). It all started with this gorgeous lady – Kate Beckett ! A detective at NYPD, she has amazing looks, trust me! Well, isn’t this weird ? I mean if such beautiful women were to become cops & detectives, how much more enchanting would these crime mysteries be ! Moreover, who would ask for FTV? All we need would be more copTVs ! Trick the people around you to be watching a crime mystery, when you are actually gazing at … !!!

Well , there I was, chasing Beckett chasing murderers all across New York city. Of course to give company was the clever & amusing Mr. Richard Castle ! It was so much fun to be “castled by castle” ! And this was probably the only place on earth where there is “romance over blood” unlike the typical gore and/or vengeance ! Power of beauty, huh ?

Well, Well, during my frequent visits to NYC, there was also a man who impressed me greatly! (Oh! gosh, now before your crooked minds delve into their own worlds of fantasy, I’ll delve into my explanation!) It was Mr. Westen, Michael Westen. People call him the James Bond of TV ! Poor fellow was burned, dumped in Miami with no money & no credible identity. To add to his “burns”, there would be atleast 2 FBI agents tailing him wherever he goes. An annoying mom, a trigger happy ex-gf (also a freelance spy) & a friend who is also an informant to the FBI about his whereabouts! Now that makes a screwed up life. Well, not exactly! This shrewd, burned spy knows espionage better than most others in the business. With this introduction by 2 prospective NRI friends of mine, (as of now they are still RIs!) I couldn’t wait to meet this James Bond of small screen. But along with this came some burns & bruises as take away gifts! Awesome action! Ingenious, innovative, best-in-business, he is a “true” superhero ( without the fancy costumes or any sort of superpower, that’s why the “the”). So all in all, a pretty hectic schedule it has been, chasing a gorgeous detective & a super-spy. It was so much excitement.

Amidst all this, during the week-“days” & some off-days too, I was mostly caught up with Mr.Bozo & MT! (People who don’t know about Bozo, kindly check out satirendsarcasm ). Filling countless forms, AABAACDCCCCCCCCCCCC….

Phew, I was way too busy, I guess !!!

AVATAR, THE NEW DIMENSION OF SCI-FI MOVIES

Avatar, the movie, by my reckoning is one of the most amazing movies ever made in Hollywood! I hope most of you folks endorse this fact. I can, in fact take a step further & conclude that Avatar is the greatest movie ever made on this planet. And those of you who have missed it , you surely have missed some astonishing moments of your lives!

Shackled by Exams, tested by totally , totally weird question scripts, God, I had a horrible end for 2009 n a not so warm, gleeful beginning to 2010. All of us ( myself & all my friends) were so eagerly waiting for this movie , but to our disappointment , we realized it's hitting the screens exactly during the period of our exams . That sure was no good news for at least me. So I couldn’t make it to the movie until my exams concluded. But never mind, obstacles only make your heart grow stronger! I was all determined to reach my destiny ( you know what destiny I’m talking of!), so as soon as my exams concluded , I wasted no time in making it there. Even then it wasn’t “All eez well “ , for I had quite a hard day before getting to watch the movie. We friends decided to go to the movie, we had the tickets for the morning show, but luck wasn’t on our side! We sat for an hour idly on soaked seats ( yeah , literally soaked seats, were they testing sprinklers in the auditorium ? )with nothing playing on the screen! Only after some tussle, they told us that they had some kind of technical snag & the show was cancelled. After that, we visited almost every screen in Bangalore that played Avatar , only to see the “HOUSEFULL” board glaring at us. But, God’s Grace, we finally got some seats for the show at FAME. Thank heavens…

I walked into the movie with a lot of expectations, but the movie was far , far better than I had anticipated. It had left me dumbstruck by the time it ended! It, for sure , was a superb, top class sci-fi flick . The story revolving around the new world Pandora & its inhabitants Navi has been so beautifully scripted, picturised & presented that it left me totally astounded. The basic conceptualization of this new world Pandora & the Navis is magnificent. That’s where the director James Cameroon shows his immaculate style of doing things. It all starts with a bunch of greedy humans who want to mine for some mineral on this land of Pandora, but the Navis have never let them succeed. Then this team funds the research with the aid of which the human DNA & that of Navi could be blended to create a Navi lookalike with the humans able to transfer themselves between their human forms & their Navi clone! That was amazing. And the way Pandora is portrayed in the movie is marvelous. The forests, the creatures there, the illuminating flora, the supernatural natives called Navi, wow, simply sensational. And watching it in 3D made the experience more memorable. Now enter Jake Sully, a marine with paralyzed legs, he is asked to enter the Navi world in his Navi form , learn about them , their language, their customs and also convince them to relocate themselves so that the mining activities could be carried on. Now Jake enters the Navi world, befriends Neytiri, who will be assigned, by the Navi heads, the task of teaching the their lifestyles & customs to Jake. And then the movie revolves around how Jake learns more about the Navis, falls in love with Neytiri, the Human infiltration & the war that follows. Will Jake be able to save Pandora & its natives from getting doomed ? Watch the movie for answers. Put in a sentence, this is amazing , top class , nail biting , action packed Sci-fi flick.

The visual effects in the movie are really mind-blowing. The supernatural forests, the illuminating flora, the weird fauna, the floating mountains, wow, I’m out of words to describe them. Breathtaking creations ,these. James Cameroon has paid acute attention to all minute things & ideas used in the movie, so nowhere do you find anything senseless. The Navi belief that we only borrow energy from nature & have to return it someday is a good interpretation of our “ Law of conservation of energy”! Futuristic weaponry, the warfare has been depicted with grandeur. Emotions, faith, life has been celebrated all though the movie. Wow, all in all, Mr. Cameroon has redefined the concept of SCI-FI movies.

Also another core issue I noticed in this movie is the demarcation between “being human & being humane” that has been blatantly portrayed in the movie. The movie beautifully depicts the true unity, care, faith, belief of the Navis, their never-say-die attitude, their respect for mother nature & quite contrastingly the savage attitude, the ” we’ll do anything to get what we want “ stance of the humans. A lucid display of Humanity sported by Navis & the true Barbaric nature of the humans. The fact is , this movie has all it needs to make an extraordinary flick. Mr Cameroon has shown to the world what it means to make a SCI-FI flick. Terrific …

But believe me, only your eyes can do true justice to this brilliant movie. so don’t keep waiting, this movie is a must watch.

FORMULA1 IN TROUBLED WATERS ?!

Just a week after the 2009 F1 season’s conclusion, where I still lie on the couch reliving those moments of Brawn’s glory & the super-sensational Abu Dhabi circuit, I was abruptly woken up by some breaking –news about F1. I was all ears but unfortunately it was no sweet news. I couldn’t believe it when I learnt that Toyota had decided to quit F1! No way!!! God, this cant be true!

Having been a loyal fan of F1 for quite sometime now, it has always been so thrilling & astounding watching those mean machines vvvrooooom around crazily on the black carpets! Ferrari fighting Mclaren, BMW chasing down Renault, the Toyota, Force India showdown & of course, the Red-Bull & Brawn surprises have always kept their fans at the edge of their seats , promising & producing some spectacular, nail-biting races. A sport once monopolized by the big daddies like Ferrari & Mclaren, season 2009 was a complete surprise package! A hard to believe reshuffled Driver’s & Constructor’s title standings, young guns displaying their amazing talent, the veterans shouting ut loud –“ We still mean business, we still are in the game”, quite a lot of engineering, aerodynamic changes in the cars, giving them a new, sleek & sexy avatar, new & emerging teams proving a point & the most fascinating of all, Force India earning their maiden podium finish! That is truly amazing, right? And of course, how can I not mention of the new track Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi. Oh my god, she’s truly so damn gorgeous!

But its also been a matter of concern that things really haven’t been their best over a year or two for the F1 fraternity. Honda backed out before the commencement of the 2009 season, but luckily Ross Brawn bought the team, rechristened it as Brawn GP & this team went on to script history by notching the constructors’ championship & also their driver the veteran brit Jenson Button winning the Drivers’ championship. The later half of the season saw some baffling developments like the Renault crash-gate saga revamped & investigated which proved their guilt. The team banished from the sport for 2 years & Briatore banished for life from the F1 fraternity! Then BMW announced their retirement from the sport due to financial crisis. Then post the season, Bridgestone, the sole tyre-wala of F1 has said its unsure about supplying tyres & now its Toyota saying goodbye! Dramas galore, yet unfortunately none in the favor of the sport! This is not what we fans want, no way! We don’t want this thrilling sport to die passively… no please.

Now it all comes into the hands of the FIA to save F1. We have all grown watching Schumi & Mika race and post their carrers, F1 has produced some fine drivers & much better cars as well. The game has always been so full of energy, spirit, glamor. Its true that the global meltdown has cast a dark shadow on this money lucrative game, but still, measures in the favor of the sport can save it. So here’s urging the FIA to do something to keep the glory of F1 flying high. We don’t want anymore teams walking out of the camp, we have had enough for the while. 2010 season will see 3 new teams make their F1 debut,It’s a good sign indeed. But we surely don’t want the champ teams move out citing financial reasons. We have loved this game, we have passionately followed the game. WE LIVE THIS GAME. SO PLEASE,WE WANT THIS GAME ALIVE & AS GLORIOUS AS EVER…

GO FISI.. , GO ...

In what could be classified as one of the most intriguing & astonishing races of the 2009 F1 season, the terrific veteran Giancarlo Fisichella put the Force India on podium with an emphatic 2nd place at the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Franchorchamps. Yep, its true! Force India made it to the podium!! It also pocketed some very valuable points after almost 30 desperate attempts to enter the points tally! Guess how ecstatic the team boss Mr.Vijay Mallya & the entire crew of Force India would have been!
It was seeming like a weekend completely bewitched by Fisichella! He provided the 1st surprise by putting his Force India on P1 during the 1st qualifying session(Q1), then he was the 2nd fastest at the 2nd qualifying session(Q2), a session which saw the favorites like Jenson Button & Lewis Hamilton manage to achieve a meek P14 & P12 respectively.Force India’s 2nd driver Adrian Sutil also qualified a stunning P11! And then came the true big sensational moment, the final qualifying session(Q3).Nick Heidfeld provided the 1st breakthrough for BMW by putting a good lap-time on the charts, but was outclassed at the final moments of qualifying by Toyota’s Jarno Trulli. And then the Fisichella magic! He put the entire racing fraternity into a momentary standstill when he timed the fastest lap in his Force India Mercedes, giving the team its 1st ever pole position! A glorious feat, an amazing achievement. Everybody was dumbstruck! They couldn’t believe their eyes! A Force India on P1! Mr. Vijay Mallya & his team were having the time of their life. Then the following Sunday, warm yet uptight , had loads of thrilling & chilling bites in reserve for the motorsport fans. It was an all Italian front row with Fisichella on pole & Trulli on P2, a rare scenario. As the 5 red lights eliminated, Fisichella made a good start, cruising to the lead. A major crash on the opening lap itself forced title contender Jenson Button return to pits & the podium favorite Lewis Hamilton retired due to the collision with the Renault rookie Grosjean. The race was then yellow flagged & Safety car deployed, the cavalcade of the world’s fastest cars was led up & down the hill for almost 3 laps by Giancarlo Fisichella. Then on lap 3 , Ferrari’s samurai, the iceman Kimi Raikkonen casually overtook Fisichella, thanks to the magical KERS! Yeh, we can only imagine how frustrated & disappointed Fisichella would have been with that! (His car lacked the KERS technology).But still, Ferrari is a Ferrari, right!
Actually , what was really supernatural in the race was the way Fisichella drove his car. He constantly kept pushing hard & made no mistakes whatsoever. And everything worked well for Ferrari & Force India as they finished first & second respectively. Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel finished a surprising third! And the matter of fact here is that Fisichella was only 0.9 secs behind Raikkonen as they crossed the checkered flag! Now that’s a stupendous achievement by Fisi. Flawless driving, well managed pit strategy & superb support by the pit crew helped this estranged & much criticized team earn the dream of their life. A podium finish & 8 well deserved points. Patience & perseverance finally paid for Mr.Mallya & his team. Kudos !! Guess that rabbit incident bestowed a lot of good fortune to the team & the driver as well! Whatever, it was a wholesome team effort that earned the rewards.
After this marvelous performance by Fisi, speculations rife of his mid-season transfer to Ferrari, who are struggling too hard to find an able replacement for the injured Massa. With Badoer failing miserably to produce anything sweet for Ferrari as the team’s 2nd driver, they are in a serious quest for a better contender, ahead of their home race coming in 2 week’s time at Monza, Italy. But, whatever might be the problems with these big teams, its been the smaller, less hyped teams that have been delivering surprises all thru the season. Its nice that now, Force India too has joined the foray. Hope we get to see many more of such exciting, astonishing races. Hope Formula 1 enjoys some fine patronage & tastes more success & glory in the days to come.

THE KING OF (NO MORE) GOOD TIMES ! ! !

In what can be termed as a daring act, the major private airline operators on Friday, served an ultimatum to the govt, “Bail us out or we won’t operate !”. This was an unprecedented, one of its kind scenario, where all the private airline operators came together & threatened to suspend operations on Aug 18 if the aviation ministry fail to perceive their miseries & bail them out! The Federation of Indian Airlines (FIA) which includes Kingfisher Airlines, Jet Airways, Spicejet, Indigo all unanimously voiced their displeasure with the aviation ministry doing v. little under these times of dire economic crisis & urged immediate help.Rather they almost blackmailed the govt with a threat to pull out of service if not bailed out!
The FIA says that the industry will lose upto Rs.57000 cr this year due to the low fares, exorbitant ATF costs & of course the steep fall in the passenger traffic! During 2008-09, Air Deccan, now Kingfisher Red, billed losses of about Rs.798 cr, Kingfisher Airlines lost Rs.409 cr, Jetlite suffered losses of Rs.441 cr & Jet Airways registered losses of Rs.253 cr approx. Hmmm, baffling, isn’t it?
“We are bleeding. Everybody is bleeding. Giving a helping hand to the airline industry is done all over the world!” said Mr. Naresh Goyal, chief of Jet Airways. Mr. Vijay Mallya, the chairman of Kingfisher also said that the indifferent attitude shown by the govt. towards the aviation sector was not fair. Their policies to continue levy exorbitant taxes even under crunch times was lashed out by all the representatives of the various private airline operators. But the Civil Aviation minister, Mr. Praful Patel had a tart reply. He said “We understand the problems of the aviation sector. However, we don’t support any move that would cause inconvenience to the public“. He also added that Air India would not participate in the strike & also more flights would be deployed to help the public on that day. Bravo !! a brilliant reply for an open blackmail !!
So, now the million dollar question – should the tax payers’ money be used to fill the pockets of the pilots & the air-hostesses? Well, most of India says no, so do I. Factually speaking, its just a meager 5% of the Indian population who travel by air. So standing upside down & bailing out of these private airlines by the govt wouldn’t be a wise call. Also these airlines don’t give any share in the profits to the govt. So why should the govt give them companionship during times of loss? Of course, we do understand its crunch time, but how many sectors & how many industries will the govt bail-out? Also the govt has already taken up the uphill task of cleaning up Air India’s mess. Its not that the govt has done nothing. The credit limit for the operation of the airlines has been considerably increased. Most of these airline operators owe huge amounts to the govt owned fuel agencies, yet they are being supplied with fuel without any hitch whatsoever. So, I guess the govt has done something to support them during tough times, but a bailout would be preposterous. Instead, I feel, these big-heads & pioneers of some amazing flight plans must chalk out a Plan-B & redraft their strategies & fight for survival. Of course, this is what corporate India has been so famous for, adaptability & versatility. So, let them put their arithmancy, commerce & brain power to test & revive themselves, of which they must be capable of! Also, a little on the contrary, the govt can also go a step further & offer some more benefits like a tax reduction or something like that to revitalize the sector, for a lot of shareholders’ money is at stake! a lockout of any of these aviation firms would be detrimental to the Indian economy. So, the govt needs to act with care & foresight. Also, it would be a tough job for the govt to make a call- whether these private airlines deserve anything like big financial aid or not? Whatever it may be, it seems like there’ll be more food for thought & debate ! !

ROGER FEDERER, THE GREATEST, THE FINEST, THE BEST... EVER

Mark this day in your diary, 07/05/2009, for this day has been etched in the history records for various resplendent reasons :

1. It was the day when Wimbledon witnessed another marvelous, epic clash of the titans .
2. Roger Federer became the only player in the history of tennis to win 15 Majors ( GRAND SLAM TITLES ) .
3. The world was presented a true champion to supersede the legend, Pete Sampras.
Well, yes , witnessed by a plethora of some of the finest sportsmen, Roger Federer(RF) became the only player to surpass Pete Sampras’ record of 14 GRAND SLAM titles, which conjured on him the title “The greatest & the most successful player in tennis, ever “. Much deserved, I say, in fact, everyone said!
Sunday, the 5th July, 2009, a beautiful sunny day at Wimbledon, gifted with perfect conditions for a historic clash, a Final between 2nd seeded RF & 6th seeded Andy Roddick. The result was more or less scripted, given RF’s domination on the green court supplemented by the unassailated 18 wins out of the previous 20 encounters between the two. But , nobody whatsoever even had the vaguest idea that this match would become a pulsating, terrific 4hr 16mins epic battle! Yeah, rewriting history demands a lot of grit & guts! Conventional wisdom would have made you predict the outcome, but trust me this was a full-on game of uncanny tennis! Just to mention, Roddick walked into the centre court at Wimbledon not as an underdog. His stats read like this – 160 aces, 72% avg 1st serve, 331 winners, 112 unforced errors. Federer’s (popularly branded Fedex) stats read like this – 77 aces, 67% avg 1st serve, 239 winners, 71 unforced errors both facts at wimbledon 2009. Now compare these… 160 vs 77 for aces, 331 vs 239 for winners. The American, Roddick , was meaning business all thru his path to the final. When Roddick served, the commentators say “ He launches missiles, not tennis balls”! The “Ace-man” ( as I prefer to call him for the obvious reason) was here to prove a point to the world. But, after years of being Fedex’s fan, I have noticed a special ability in him to bounce back even under the most dire circumstances & tones of pressure, so I fondly call him “Come-back-champ”! So, sure you’ll agree this was a clash of the titans. The stage all set for the big match, it all started with Roddick’s serve. No prizes for guessing the contingency, it was an ACE ! The ace-man then went on to win the 1st game & the 1st set as well! Mirka (fedex’s better half) might have looked tensed at that moment, but I was not! My “come-back-champ” would surely fight back, I knew. Set 2, at 6-6 went for a tie-breaker. Leading 6-3, I was a little petrified, I must admit. Just when Roddick had everything under control, Fedex provided another evidence why he’s called a master of this trade. Fedex fought back brilliantly, forced Andy into 3 unforced errors & quite calmly pocketed the 2nd set. Such is the caliber of this man! The 3rd set again going in for a tie-breaker, the opportunity was well converted by Federer, proving his dexterity. Now wait, don’t dare predict anything from here. I’m sure you’ll be deluded by your prejudice! It was from here that the true saga began. The real spirit of sportsmanship put to test. Andy Roddick’s adeptness found no match in Fedex when he blasted the 4th set 6-3 in his favor. Now that was a subtle yet an open challenge to the tipped champion. And come 5th set, oh, my God. It was an epitome to the grandeur of this game particularly at this venue. The set was fought with terrific proficiency & valour by both these knights, proving time & again what their name’s worth is. Federer would serve & casually win the game by lightning aces & the unstoppable forehands! Roddick would serve Aces, immaculate forehands, succinct 1st serve winners. It was a spectacular display of stern, supersonic forehands, skillful volleys, incredible winners & tacit aces.The 5th set lasted a mammothic hour and an half!Believe it or not Fedex had served 50 aces against Roddick’s 27. Now that’s a counter-view to my “aceman” theory! But, notwithstanding all this, nobody could break the other’s serve! My composure was tried & tested, my stoicism crucified & resurrected, my patience literally raided! Fedex failed to convert 5 odd break points in his favor. Whenever it was “Advantage Federer”, Roddick would launch 2 blistering missiles that would slice thru Fedex’s territory as an ace or an unbeatable 1st serve.within mins, it would be “Game, Roddick”. This was the story until it was “Federer leads 15 games to 14. Roddick to serve”. Roddick committed 2 wacky errors & gave it all away to Federer. History was made.With the scores of 5-7,7-6,7-6,3-6,16-14 , Federer became the proud owner of the Wimbledon cup, after missing it for an year. Roddick could’nt believe it, but that was the destiny’s script for that day. Dejection could be seen well on his transparent face. Emotions gushed out of his eyes. But he had all the respect for the man in front of him, the man being crowned as the greatest ever. Roddick felt chastised for his errors, but the world was on his side. The completeness, the spirit, the adroitness he had shown in this epic saga was well appreciated by the tennis fraternity. The thundering applause when his name was called out during the awards ceremony proves this. There had been a lot of glitter & placidity in his attitude. Just get back into the time machine, rewind it to 2005-06, then you’ll know why I’m stressing on this refined quality of this marvelous gentleman. He had fought so hard, in fact both these players. None ever wilted under pressure. They strained every sinews, but absolutely no expression of any sluggishness of fatigue even after such a grueling battle. Only pure emotions played on everybody’s face. As of Roger Federer, he was at the top of the world. He had become a legend. The world acknowledged him with standing ovation. He was ecstatic. Sure he deserves every bit of stardom & adulation he’s receiving. He’s a genius all by himself.
This was a nail-biting match. Everyone was served with a feast of uncanny, venerating, and extolling game of tennis that the people would cherish not for a day or two but for a lifetime. Federer reigns supreme. But nevertheless, Roddick proved his point well.
So expect more of such volcanic matches as tennis promises more to its die-hard followers & fans …

SIBALISM, MAKING LIFE MERRIER FOR THE GENX..???

Imagine this …
You are a 10th grader , sitting tight & studying day in & day out for your board exams. Suddenly, one fine day, you realize something unusual at your doorstep! A beautiful gift box… gift wrapped with the finest & the most vibrantly colored satin. You open it to find a parchment in it. The parchment is decorated at its edges with glitter ink. Inside the parchment, the wordings in bold & italics read
“Class X board exams made optional.
No compulsion! Choice open to the student. Absolutely no side effects … ”
WITH REGARDS ,
THE UNION HRD MINISTRY
What would be your instantaneous reaction to this? surprise? shock? I bet you would cherish this one more than a “Corner House treat” or any Nike\RBK gear as a surprise birthday gift. Well if things are to go the way drafted & if GOD decides to stay by you, you (a 10th grader) will be getting that gift anytime soon!
The Union HRD minister Mr.Kapil Sibal is all set to make a major, debatable rejig in the educational system of India. He has plans to scrap the Class X board exams, introduce a common board (deleting all the state boards) & invite more private players to the higher education arena. Some maverick moves by the HRD minister. Though the 2nd & 3rd seem a good move, it’s the 1st that’s attracted a lot of questions & risen many debates. Not many educationalists in the country like this idea of the minister to scrap the board exams (or to be more precise make it optional). And guess whats the reason behind this daring act? “Detraumatising the life of the students & the parents.” (now where was this issue of trauma & stress when I was giving my board exams ?!)
Though the minister might attained instant adulation & a big fan-following from the student community, many learned call this decision “highly absurd”. From times immemorial, the Class X board exam has proved to be a major benchmark in every student’s life. It’s a threshold , a gatepass for higher education (or atleast this is how my parents describe those exams. I too endorse it, now that I have gone through all those hardships!) So, if such an exam’s scrapped, then how do you guage a person’s literacy? I bet you can’t completely rely on the school internal exams. I can give you a thousand instances where favoritism & biasing has played a role when it came to awarding marks in school exams. Any disagreement with this point? I hope not. And I don’t understand what’s all this trauma, stress, burden on the part of the students due to the exams. I feel it’s a little over-rated. If they are to proceed in the way they’ve started, then probably one fine day, they’ll scrap all the exams even at the degree level and you’ll (or atleast your children will) get your professional’s degree even without facing a single so called “traumatizing” exams. (frankly, I don’t mind something like this only if its going to be implemented within another 2 month’s time, I mean before my 5th sem classes commence! But more musing reveals the fact that even this kind of a situation wont load off my mind or do anything miraculous in my case where we have a sem-end exam paper set by our college lecturers, which is a fine collection of the most ulterior, apprehensive, ultra-cryptic, anomalous questions in the whole universe! Just to give an insight, you are given a theory question to answer for 10 marks in a subject that’s strictly programming & even the best of the reference books has only 5 lines of info in it! You have to make up the rest of the story to be worth 10 marks!) now forget my case for the time being, I know its so melancholic & heart-trending! But I’m afraid there’s very little you can do about it. So by my reckoning, life will only become more petrifying without these board exams.
A board exam is one arena which instills the spirit of competition in the students. It gives them a chance to associate & compete with peers not just confined to his/her school, but the whole territory/ nation. Though it may be branded a drudge or an ordeal, but still its worth all the stress & strain because facing such exams helps students analyse & assimilate their strengths & weaknesses. It forms a well defined scale to track their progress. Tough stuffs like exams prepare the young to face the real world, full of competitors, the fight for opportunities. Most importantly, they help us transform better from a novice to a virtuoso. So, I feel exams are as important as any other aspect in the education system. Also, in a country like ours, respected globally for the dexterity of the folks & their enormous mental abilities, anything making the schooling, collegiate education easy will prove to be too costly a price to be paid towards the end. So, instead of thinking about scrapping exams, let the authorities muse about improving the quality of education, introducing new & industry-oriented subjects, updating the syllabi every now & then, giving more grants to the universities, offering more fellowships & scholarships to the talented lot. Make education modern, not casual. Make knowledge reachable to all, affordable by the masses. By traversing in such path, can we help in India’s progress. So, lets all strive for it. Lets take India to greater heights…